Treating alcoholics - with wine

The recommended treatment for chronic alcoholism is abstinence. But at the Oaks - a permanent home for those who once lived on the streets - residents are given a measure of wine at hourly intervals. It is called the Managed Alcohol Program, and aims to change the drinking behaviour of inveterate addicts. July 7. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36717557

This news comes to us on a day when the Sun opposes Pluto, an aspect which often brings us in touch with the dark side of life. A chart for the opposition at Ottawa is shown here. It has a prominent Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune T-square straddling the horizon.  Neptune in Pisces has been linked to Dionysus, the god of wine so that the square from Saturn is, in one sense, about learning discipline in one’s drinking behavior.

The T-square is anchored to the Sun-Mercury-Venus combination in the 8^th . The Sun and Mercury are conjunct stars in the Chinese asterism Ta Tsun, the Great Wine Jar while  Venus  is on the perihelion of the centaur Pholus which in mythology is linked to wine. Venus is the 6^th lord placed in the 8^th. The 6^th house has to do with illness or disease or even debilitating habit patterns. The 8^th house is often referred to  as a house of inner transformation and growth. In its highest expression,  the 6^th house ruler in the 8^th can help overcome debilitating habit patterns and move on with the strength of experience and wisdom.

In addition the Sun and Mercury form a sextile to Jupiter in Virgo. The sign Virgo is often associated with purification, a health-and-hygiene-conscious attitude toward rooting out whatever practices or provisions are ineffective, broken, wasteful, noxious, or otherwise ill-advised. Jupiter's job in Virgo is to help us more clearly see the specific functional steps to take, adjustments to make, and habits to break or set up, so we may increase the precision and quality of the results we attain from our industrious efforts.